In front of a barbecue stall, Goku pointed at a large roasted leg on the grill and said cheerfully:
"Hey, mister, I want this one."
The busy stall owner looked up and saw a child about a meter tall. He smiled and asked:
"Little guy, this costs money. Did you bring any?"
Goku nodded, took out the coin he had received earlier, and handed it to the owner.
"I brought money. Here's this for you."
The owner looked closely and saw it was just a single coin. He couldn't help but shake his head with a chuckle.
"Little guy, this amount of money can only buy a piece of candy at most. It's not enough for this roasted leg."
"Where are your parents? Have them come and pay for you."
Hearing that he couldn't buy it, Goku scratched his cheek. "Is it not enough?"
"Yeah. If you really want to eat it, have your mom or dad come and buy it for you."
"I don't have a mom or dad."
The owner, who had already looked back down to work, suddenly froze.
No parents?
He looked up in shock at the adorable Goku and suddenly felt like slapping himself.
*Dammit! Why did I have to say that?*
*A child without parents is sensitive enough as it is, and I just went and rubbed salt in his wound. I'm such a jerk!*
At that moment, Goku wasn't paying attention to the owner's reaction. Instead, he started feeling around his clothes.
He suddenly remembered Bulma telling him that shiny things were very valuable.
And he just happened to have something shiny on him right now.
He had found it in the sea. He originally thought it was a Dragon Ball, but it turned out it wasn't, so he had just kept it on him.
Soon, he pulled out a crystal emitting an orange light and handed it to the owner excitedly.
"Here, mister, this should be enough to trade for your meat, right?"
By now, the guilt-ridden owner had already decided to give Goku a leg for free—no, two!
So he didn't even look at what Goku was offering. He skillfully took down two roasted legs and forced his most gentle smile.
"Little guy, I just remembered. You're the hundredth customer today, which makes you my lucky customer! You get these two roasted legs for free, so go ahead and take them."
Goku blinked innocently and pointed at the meat. "You're saying you're giving them to me?"
The owner nodded firmly.
"Well, thank you very much!"
Goku's eyes lit up, revealing an innocent smile. He took the two legs and took a big, delicious bite.
"Bye-bye, mister!"
He left the stall happily with the two roasted legs.
The owner watched him leave with a smile, thinking to himself:
*That little guy has such a cute smile.*
*Thank goodness. It looks like he wasn't hurt by what I said, otherwise I would've never forgiven myself.*
After walking a few steps, Goku suddenly thought of something. He zipped back to the stall, slammed the crystal he had been clutching onto the counter, and said with a grin: "Mister, this is for you!"
Then he truly left the stall.
The owner blinked blankly, walked out from behind the counter, and looked at the crystal in his hand for a while. "What is this?"
Although he didn't know what it was, he kept it safe as a child's pure-hearted gesture.
In the years that followed, whenever he was in a bad mood, taking out this crystal and remembering that innocent smile would instantly clear the gloom from his heart.
Many years later, he would learn from someone that this crystal was incredibly valuable—enough to buy his entire stock of meat countless times over!
But in the end, he never chose to sell it and become wealthy.
Instead, he kept it as a family heirloom, telling his descendants it was a testament to his friendship with a little boy.
...
On the bustling street, Goku tossed aside the skewers, now picked clean. He rubbed his stomach and muttered to himself:
"That wasn't nearly enough to get full, and now I'm out of money."
Although he still had one coin, he knew it could only buy a single piece of candy and nothing else.
A piece of candy certainly wouldn't fill his stomach, so he didn't see the point in buying one.
"Oh well, I'll go find something to eat in the sea later."
He quickly made a decision to look for people here first, then return to the shore to catch some fish for dinner.
So, he began stopping people on the street to ask for directions.
But it was the same story as before. Everyone he asked just shook their heads, saying they had never seen Master Roshi or Krillin, nor had they heard of the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Still, he didn't give up, asking again every few steps.
After a while, as he turned a street corner to continue his search, he saw a commotion ahead.
"No! That's the money for my daughter's medicine! If you take it, I won't have enough to treat her! Please, give it back!"
A middle-aged man with graying hair was kneeling on the ground, clutching someone's pant leg and begging desperately.
"Get lost! This is the protection money you owe for this month. I don't give a damn if you have money for your daughter or not."
The one being held was a fierce-looking youth. He kicked the middle-aged man hard, but couldn't shake him off, so his kicks grew heavier with each blow.
"No! I... I'll definitely scrape together two months' worth of money next month. I'll pay it all then! Just let me slide this month, I'm begging you!"
Despite the growing pain, the middle-aged man didn't let go. instead, he gripped tighter, pleading with the youth.
"I told you, no way!"
"You pay what you owe today!"
The youth continued to growl at him.
While many residents saw this happening, they all stayed far away. Not a single person dared to speak up.
Just then, Goku rushed in front of the youth and glared at him. "Hey! Didn't you hear him? He needs that money for medicine!"
The youth glanced over and scowled. "Where did this brat come from? Scram."
After saying that, he ignored Goku and pulled out an iron pipe, ready to strike the man who wouldn't let go.
But as he swung it down with force, he was stunned to find that his pipe didn't hit the man. Instead, it was caught by a small hand.
"Hey! Are you trying to kill him?"
Goku gripped the iron pipe tightly, his expression growing more angry.
"None of your business! Let go!"
After the initial shock, the youth tried to yank the pipe back.
But to his surprise, even using both hands until his face turned red from the effort, he couldn't budge the pipe an inch.
Realizing he couldn't win or get away, his expression wavered. He pulled out a wad of Berries and threw them in front of the middle-aged man, gritting his teeth: "Fine, take it! Now let go of me!"
Seeing the medicine money back in his hands, the middle-aged man joyfully released his grip.
Freed from the restraint, the youth turned and fled, shouting back at Goku and the man as he ran: "You two just wait! This isn't over!"
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[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]